introduction, random phrases bring up the image of various attitudes and

movements of Spanish dances. A triple-rhythmed figure leads to a light and graceful dance melody against a bolero rhythm. As the melody is developed and repeated it gains in intensity and is enriched in color until it evolves climactically with full force. A transcription for orchestra by Fernández Arbós is as famous as the original piano version. Hugo Alfvén Hugo Alfvén was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 1, 1872. His music study took place at the Stockholm Conservatory and, on government stipends, with César Thomson in Brussels, and in Germany and France. From 1910 to 1939 he was musical director and conductor of the student chorus at the Uppsala University. Alfvén was a nationalist composer of Romantic tendencies who wrote five symphonies together with a considerable amount of orchestral and choral music. He died in Faluns, Sweden, on May 8, 1960. _Midsummer Vigil_ (_Midsommarvaka_), op. 19 (1904), a Swedish rhapsody for orchestra, is his best known composition. It was produced as a ballet, _La Nuit de Saint-Jean_, in Paris on October 25, 1925, where it proved so successful that it was given more than 250 performances within four years. As a work for symphony orchestra it has received universal acclaim for its attractive deployment of national Swedish folk song idioms and dance rhythms. The music describes a revel held in small Swedish towns during the St. John’s Eve festival. The work opens with a gay tune for clarinet over plucked strings. This is followed by a burlesque subject for bassoon. Muted strings and English horns then offer a broad, stately, and emotional folk song. Repeated by the French horns, this song is soon amplified by the strings. The tempo now quickens, and a rustic dance theme is given softly by the violins. The mood gradually becomes frenetic. The violins offer a passionate subject over a pedal point. A climax is finally reached as the revelry becomes unconfined. Louis Alter Louis Alter was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on June 18, 1902, where he received his academic education in the public schools, and his initial instruction in music. Music study was completed with Stuart Mason at the New England Conservatory. In 1924 Alter came to New York, where for five years he worked as accompanist for Nora Bayes, Irene Bordoni and other stars of the stage; he also did arrangements for a publishing firm in Tin Pan Alley. Between 1925 and 1927 he wrote his first popular songs and contributed a few of them to Broadway productions. Since then he has written many song hits, as well as scores for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. His best known songs include “A Melody from the Sky” and “Dolores,” both of which were nominated for Academy Awards; also “Twilight on the Trail,” such a favorite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the manuscript, together with a recording by Bing Crosby, repose in the Roosevelt Museum in Hyde Park, New York. Alter has been successful in writing skilful compositions for piano and orchestra in which the popular element is pronounced, encased within a symphonic structure. Some of them are now staples in the symphonic-jazz repertory. His best compositions were inspired by the sights, sounds and moods of New York City. _Jewels from Cartier_ (1953), as the title indicates, was inspired not by New York but by one of the city’s most famous jewelers when Alter was one day allowed to inspect its collection. In his suite, Alter attempts in eight sections to translate various jewels into tones. The first movement is “Emerald Eyes.” Since many beautiful emeralds come from South America, this section emphasizes the rumba beat and other Latin-American rhythms. “The Ruby and the Rose” is a romantic ballad in which voices supplement the instruments of the orchestra. “Pearl of the Orient” consists of an oriental dance. “Black Pearl of Tahiti” exploits exotic Polynesian rhythms and its languorous-type melodies. “Diamond Earrings” is a swirling waltz while “Star Sapphire” is a beguine. In “Cat’s Eye in the Night,” the music suggests a playful kitten darting about in a room. The finale, “Lady of Jade,” is in the style of Chinese processional music. _Manhattan Masquerade_ (1932) is the most dramatic of Alter’s New York murals. It consists of a Viennese-type waltz played in fox-trot time, a suggestion on the part of the composer that Vienna and New York are not too far apart spiritually. _Manhattan Moonlight_ (1932) is, on the other hand, atmospheric. It opens with four chords in a nebulous Debussy vein. The core of the work is an extended melody for strings against piano embellishments. A light and frivolous mood is then invoked before the main melody returns in an opulent scoring. _Manhattan Serenade_ (1928) is the most famous of all Alter’s instrumental works and the one that first made him known. He published it first as a piano solo, but soon rewrote it for piano and orchestra. Paul Whiteman and his orchestra made it popular in 1929 on records and in public concerts. This work is extremely effective in laying bare the nerves of the metropolis through syncopations, and jazz tone colorations. Its main melody is a plangent song to which, in 1940, Howard Johnson adapted a song lyric. _Manhattan Serenade_ is often heard as background music on radio and television programs about New York. _Side Street in Gotham_ (1938) attempts to portray the city from river to river. The composition begins with a few notes suggesting “London Bridge Is Falling Down,” which is later elaborated in a vigorous and amusing tempo; the reason this theme is here used is because it is referred to in the lyric of “The Sidewalks of New York.” Some of the mystery of New York’s side streets can also be found in this music. Leroy Anderson Leroy Anderson is one of America’s most successful and best known composers of light orchestral classics. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 29, 1908. His early musical training took place at the New England Conservatory, after which he studied the bass and organ with private teachers. In 1929 he was graduated from Harvard _magna cum laude_, and one year after that he received there his Master’s degree in music on a Naumberg Fellowship. For the next few years he served as organist and choirmaster in Milton, Massachusetts; as a member of the music faculty at Radcliffe College; and as director of the Harvard University Band. In 1935 he became a free-lance conductor, composer and arranger in Boston and New York. As orchestrator for the Boston Pops Orchestra, for which he made many orchestral arrangements over a period of several years, Anderson completed his first original semi-classical composition, _Jazz Pizzicato_, successfully introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1939. Since then the Boston Pops Orchestra has introduced most of Anderson’s compositions, many of which proved exceptionally popular in concerts throughout the country and on records. Anderson has also appeared frequently as guest conductor of important American symphony orchestras and has conducted his own compositions with his orchestra for records. In 1958, his first musical comedy, _Goldilocks_, was produced on Broadway. Beyond possessing a most ingratiating lyric invention and a consummate command of orchestration, Anderson boasts an irresistible sense of humor and a fine flair for burlesque. He is probably at his best in programmatic pieces in which extra-musical sounds are neatly adapted to and often serve as a background for his sprightly tunes—ranging from the clicking of a typewriter to the meowing of a cat. _Blue Tango_ is the first strictly instrumental composition ever to achieve first place on the Hit Parade. For almost a year it was the leading favorite on juke boxes, and its sale of over two million records represents Anderson’s healthiest commercial success. Scored for violins, this music neatly combines an insistent tango rhythm with a sensual melody in a purple mood. _Bugler’s Holiday_ is a musical frolic for three trumpets. _A Christmas Festival_ provides a colorful orchestral setting to some of the best loved Christmas hymns, including “Joy to the World,” “Deck the Halls,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Come All Ye Faithful.” _Fiddle-Faddle_ is a merry burlesque-escapade for the violins, inspired from a hearing of Paganini’s _Perpetual Motion_; this, then, is a modern style “Perpetual Motion.” In _Horse and Buggy_, the music nostalgically evokes a bygone day with a sprightly, wholesome tune presented against the rhythms of a jogging horse. The _Irish Suite_ was commissioned by the Eire Society of Boston, and is a six-movement adaptation of six of Thomas Moore’s _Irish Melodies_. They are: “The Irish Washerwoman,” “The Minstrel Boy,” “The Rakes of Mallow,” “The Wearing of the Green,” “The Last Rose of Summer,” and “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” _Jazz Legato_ and _Jazz Pizzicato_ are studies in contrasting moods and dynamics. The _Jazz Pizzicato_ consists of a jazz melody presented entirely by plucked strings; its companion piece is a broader jazz melody for bowed strings. _Plink, Plank, Plunk_ also makes effective use of pizzicato strings, this time attempting to simulate the sounds suggested by the descriptive title. _Saraband_ brings about the marriage between the very old and very new in musical styles. The old classical dance in slow triple time and accented second beat is exploited with a quickening of tempo and with modern rhythmic and melodic embellishments. In _Sleigh Bells_, jangling sleighbells and the sound of a cracking whip, provide a delightful background to a jaunty tune that has the bite and sting of outdoor winterland. This piece has become something of a perennial favorite of the Christmas season. In _The Syncopated Clock_, the rhythm of a clicking grandfather’s clock, presented by percussion instruments in a modern rhythm, is placed against a bouncy, syncopated melody. This number has become popular as theme music for the CBS-TV “Early Show.” _The Trumpeter’s Lullaby_ is a sensitive melody with the soothing accompaniment of a lullaby. _The Typewriter_ permits members of the percussion section to imitate the incisive, rigid rhythm of a functioning typewriter, punctuated by the regular tinkle of the bell to provide the warning signal that the carriage has come to the end of a line. Against this rhythm moves a vivacious message in strings. _The Typewriter_ was played in the motion picture _But Not for Me_, starring Clark Gable, released in 1959. In _The Waltzing Cat_, an imaginary cat dances gracefully to a waltz melody made up mainly of meows. Daniel François Auber Daniel François Esprit Auber, genius of opéra-comique, was born in Caen, Normandy, France, on January 29, 1782. In his youth he lived in London, where he studied both the business of art, in which he hoped to engage, and music. There he wrote several songs which were heard at public entertainments. After returning to France and settling in Paris in 1804, he gave himself up completely to music. Two minor stage works with music were privately performed between 1806 and 1811 before his first opera received its première performance: _Le Séjour militaire_ in 1813. His first success came seven years after that with _La Bergère châtelaine_. From then on he was a prolific writer of both light and grand operas, many to texts by Eugène Scribe. _La Muette de Portici_ in 1828 was a triumph, and was followed by such other major successes _Fra Diavolo_ (1830), _Le Cheval_ _de bronze_ (1835), _Le Domino noir_ (1837) and _Les Diamants de la couronne_ (1841). His last opera, _Rêves d’amour_, was completed when he was eighty-seven. Auber was one of France’s most highly honored musicians. From 1842 until his death he was director of the Paris Conservatory, and in 1857 he was made by Napoleon III Imperial Maître de Chapelle. Auber died in Paris on May 12, 1871. With Adam and Boieldieu, Auber was one of the founding fathers of the opéra-comique. He was superior to his two colleagues in the lightness of his touch, surpassing wit, and grace of lyricism. But Auber’s charm and gaiety were not bought at the expense of deeper emotional and dramatic values; for all their lightness of heart, his best comic operas are filled with pages that have the scope and dimension of grand opera. As Rossini once said of him, Auber may have produced light music, but he produced it like a true master. Overtures to several of his most famous operas are standards in the light-classical repertory. _The Black Domino_ (_Le Domino noir_), text by Eugène Scribe, was introduced in Paris on December 2, 1837. The central character is Lady Angela, an abbess, who attends a masked ball where she meets and falls in love with Horatio, a young nobleman. Numerous escapades and adventures follow before Angela meets up again with her young man. Now released from her religious vows by the Queen, Angela is free to marry him. In the overture, a loud outburst for full orchestra emphasizes a strongly rhythmic theme. A staccato phrase in the woodwind and a return of the initial strong subject follow. This leads into a light dancing motive for the woodwind. Another _forte_ passage is now the bridge to a melodious episode in the woodwind. A change of key brings on a gay bolero melody for clarinets and bassoons in octaves. After this idea is amplified, a jota-like melody is given by the full orchestra. The closing section is a brilliant presentation of a completely new jota melody. _The Crown Diamonds_ (_Les Diamants de la couronne_) was first produced in Paris on March 6, 1841, when it scored a major success. But it enjoyed an even greater triumph when it was first performed in England three years after that; from then on it has remained a great favorite with English audiences. The text, by Eugène Scribe and Saint-Georges, is set in 18th-century Portugal where the Queen assumes the identity of the leader of a gang of counterfeiters and uses the crown diamonds to get the money she needs to save her throne. When Don Henrique falls into the unscrupulous hands of these counterfeiters, the Queen saves his life and falls in love with him. The throne is eventually saved, and the crown jewels retrieved. The Queen now can choose Don Henrique as her husband. The overture opens with a sustained melody for the strings that is dramatized by key changes. A rhythmic passage leads to a martial subject for the brass. Several other vigorous ideas ensue in the brass and woodwind. After their development there comes a lyrical string episode which, in turn, leads into a second climax. Contrast comes with a lyrical idea in the strings. A loud return of the first martial subject in full orchestra marks the beginning of a spirited conclusion. _Fra Diavolo_ was an immediate success when first given in Paris on January 28, 1830; it has remained Auber’s best known comic opera. It has even received burlesque treatment on the Hollywood screen in a comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. The text by Eugène Scribe has for its central character a bandit chief by the name of Fra Diavolo who disguises himself as an Italian Marquis. He flirts with a lady of noble birth, hides in the bedroom of Zerlina, the inn-keeper’s daughter, and is finally apprehended by Zerlina’s sweetheart, the captain of police. This popular overture opens with a _pianissimo_ drum roll, the preface to a march tune for strings. The march music is extended to other instruments, and as the volume increases it gives the impression of an advancing army. It attains a _fortissimo_ for full orchestra, then subsides. The overture ends with several sprightly melodies from the first act of the opera. _The Mute of Portici_ (_La Muette de Portici_)—or, as it is sometimes called, _Masaniello_—is a grand opera that contributed a footnote to the political history of its times. First performed in Paris on February 29, 1828, it had profound repercussions on the political situation of that period, and it is regarded by many as a significant influence in bringing on the July Revolution in Paris in 1830. When first performed in Brussels the same year, it instigated such riots that the occupying Dutch were ejected from that country and Belgium now achieved independence. The text by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne is based on an episode from history: a successful Neapolitan revolt against the Duke of Arcos, headed by Tommaso Anello in 1647. In the opera, Masaniello assumes Anello’s part, and toward the end of the opera after the insurrection is smothered, he is assassinated. The overture begins with stormy music in full orchestra. After the tempo slackens, a sensitive melody is presented by clarinets and bassoons in octaves. The main section of the overture now unfolds, its main theme divided between the strings and the woodwind. After a _fortissimo_ section for full orchestra, a second important melody is heard in the woodwind and violins. The two main subjects are recalled and developed. The overture closes with a coda in which percussion instruments are emphasized. Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685. He was the most significant member of a family that for generations had produced professional musicians. His career can be divided into three convenient periods. The first was between 1708 and 1717 when, as organist to the Ducal Chapel in Weimar, he wrote most of his masterworks for organ. During the second period, from 1717 to 1723, he served as Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold in Coethen. During this period he wrote most of his major works for orchestra, solo instruments, and chamber-music ensembles. The last period took place in Leipzig from 1723 until his death where he was cantor of the St. Thomas Church. In Leipzig he produced some of his greatest choral compositions. Towards the end of his life he went blind and became paralyzed. He died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750. As the culmination of the age of polyphony, Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterworks are, for the most part, too complex and subtle for popular appeal. But from his vast and incomparable output of concertos, sonatas, suites, masses, passions, cantatas, and various compositions for the organ and for the piano, it is possible to lift a few random items of such melodic charm and simple emotional appeal that they can be profitably exploited for wide consumption. In these less complicated works, Bach’s consummate skill at counterpoint, and his equally formidable gift at homophonic writing, are always in evidence. The _Air_ is one of Bach’s most famous melodies, a soulful religious song for strings. It can be found as the second movement of his Suite No. 3 in D major for orchestra, but is often performed apart from the rest of the work. August Wilhelmj transcribed this music for violin and piano, calling it the _Air on the G String_. This transcription has been severely criticized as a mutilation of the original; Sir Donald Francis Tovey described it as a “devastating derangement.” Nevertheless, it has retained its popularity in violin literature, just as the original has remained a favorite in orchestral music. _Come Sweet Death_ (_Komm, suesser Tod_) is a moving chorale for voice and accompaniment: a simple and eloquent resignation to death. It does not come from any of Bach’s larger works but can be found in Schemelli’s collection (1736). It has become extremely popular in orchestral transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski and Reginald Stewart, but is also sometimes heard in arrangements for various solo instruments and piano, as well as for the organ. _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_ (_Jesu bleibt meine Freude_) is probably Bach’s best known and most frequently performed chorale: a stately melody introduced by, then set against, a gracefully flowing accompaniment. This composition comes from the church cantata No. 147, _Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben_. Various transcriptions have popularized this composition, notably that for piano by Myra Hess, for organ by E. Power Biggs, and for orchestra by Lucien Caillet. The _Prelude in E major_ is a vigorous and spirited piece of music whose rhythmic momentum does not relax from the first bar to the last. It appears as the first movement of the Partita No. 3 in E major for solo violin. It is perhaps even better known in transcription than in the original version, notably in those for violin and piano by Robert Schumann and Fritz Kreisler, for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and for orchestra by Stokowski, Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, Sir Henry J. Wood, and Lucien Caillet. The _Siciliano_ is a beautiful, stately song—the first movement of the Sonata No. 4 in C minor for violin and accompaniment. Stokowski has made a fine transcription for orchestra. _The Wise Virgins_ is a ballet-suite comprising six compositions by Bach drawn from his literature for the church and transcribed for orchestra by the eminent British composer, Sir William Walton. It was used for a ballet produced at Sadler’s Wells in 1940. Frederick Ashton’s choreography drew its material from the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in the 25th chapter of the Gospel According to St. Matthew; but this parable is seen through the eyes of the Italian Renaissance painters. “Ashton,” wrote Arnold Haskell, “has provided the perfect meeting place for music and painting. The inspiration was pictorial ... it is equally musical. The movement and unfolding of the narrative follow directly from the Bach music so brilliantly arranged and orchestrated by William Walton.” All six movements of the suite are so lyrical and emotional that their impact on listeners is immediate. The first movement, “What God Hath Done Is Rightly Done” comes from the opening chorus of a cantata of the same name, No. 99 (_Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan_). A lively melody is first shared by strings and woodwind and then given fanciful embellishments. A strong chorale melody for the brass is then given prominent treatment. The second movement, “Lord, Hear My Longing” is a chorale from the _Passion According to St. Matthew_ which is here given the treatment of an organ chorale-prelude with a tenderly expressive chorale melody in woodwind amplified by strings. The third movement, “See What His Love Can Do” is an expansive melody for strings and woodwind against a flowing accompaniment; this music is derived from Cantata No. 85, _Ich bin ein guter Hirt_. This is followed by “Ah, How Ephemeral,” a dramatic page for full orchestra highlighting a chorale for brass taken from Cantata No. 26, _Ach, wie fluechtig_. The fifth section is the most famous. It is “Sheep May Safely Graze” (“_Schafe koennen sicher weiden_”) from the secular Cantata No. 208, _Was mir behagt_. An introductory recitative for solo violin leads to a swaying melody for the woodwind. The lower strings then present a pastoral song which soon receives beautiful filigree work from other parts of the orchestra. The swaying subject for woodwind closes the piece. Sir John Barbirolli also made an effective orchestral transcription of this composition, while Percy Grainger arranged it for solo piano, and Mary Howe for two solo pianos. The finale of the suite is “Praise Be to God,” which is also the finale of Cantata No. 129, _Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott_. This is vigorous music that is an outpouring of pure joy. Michael Balfe Michael William Balfe was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 15, 1808. The son of a dancing master, Michael was only six when he played the violin for his father’s classes. In 1823, Balfe came to London where he studied the violin and composition with private teachers and earned his living as violinist and singer. Additional study took place in Italy in 1825, including singing with Bordogni. Between 1828 and 1833 he appeared as principal baritone of the Italian Opera and several other French theaters in Paris. In 1835, he initiated an even more successful career as composer of English operas, with _The Siege of Rochelle_, produced that year in London. He continued writing numerous operas, producing his masterwork, _The Bohemian Girl_, in 1843. Between 1846 and 1856 Balfe traveled to different parts of Europe to attend performances of his operas. In 1864 he left London to retire to his estate in Rowney Abbey where he died on October 20, 1870. _The Bohemian Girl_ is a classic of English opera. It was first produced at Drury Lane in London on November 27, 1843, when it enjoyed a sensational success. It was soon translated into French, German and Italian and was extensively performed throughout Europe. The libretto, by Alfred Bunn, was based on a ballet-pantomime by Vernoy de Saint-Georges. The setting is Hungary in the 18th century, and its heroine is Arline, daughter of Count Arnheim who, as a girl, had been kidnapped by gypsies and raised as one of them. She is falsely accused by the Count’s men of stealing a valuable medallion from the Count’s palace and is imprisoned. Appearing before the Count to ask for clemency, she is immediately recognized by him as his daughter. Melodious selections from this opera are frequently heard. The most famous single melody is “I Dream’d That I Dwelt in Marble Halls” which Arline sings in the first scene of the second act as she recalls a dream. “The Heart Bowed Down,” the Count’s song in the fourth scene of the second act as he gazes longingly on a picture of his long lost daughter, and “Then You’ll Remember Me,” a tenor aria from the third act are also familiar. Hubert Bath Hubert Bath was born in Barnstaple, England, on November 6, 1883. He attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, after which he wrote his first opera. For a year he was conductor of an opera company that toured the world. After 1915 he devoted himself mainly to composition. Besides his operas, tone poems, cantatas and various instrumental works he wrote a considerable amount of incidental music for stage plays and scores for the motion pictures. He died in Harefield, England, on April 24, 1945. The _Cornish Rhapsody_, for piano and orchestra, is one of his last compositions and the most famous. He wrote it for the British motion picture _Love Story_, released in 1946, starring Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger. Lockwood plays the part of a concert pianist, and the _Cornish Rhapsody_ is basic to the story which involves the pianist with a man in love with another woman. The rhapsody begins with arpeggio figures which lead to a strong rhapsodic passage in full chords. A bold section is then contrasted by a gentle melody of expressive beauty, the heart of the composition. A cadenza brings on a return of the earlier strong subject, and a recall of the expressive melody in the orchestra to piano embellishments. The composition ends with massive passages and strongly accented harmonies. Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16, 1770. He received his earliest musical training in his native city where he early gave strong evidence of genius. He published his first works when he was eleven, and soon thereafter was performing publicly on the organ, cembalo, and the viola. He also disclosed a phenomenal gift at improvisation. He established permanent residence in Vienna in 1792. Three years later he made there his first public appearance, and from then on began to occupy a high position in Viennese musical life as a piano virtuoso. His fame as a composer soon superseded that of virtuoso as he won the support of Vienna’s aristocracy. He entered upon a new creative phase, as well as full maturity, beginning with 1800, when his first symphony was introduced in Vienna. His creative powers continually deepened and became enriched from that time on. As he restlessly sought to give poetic and dramatic expression to his writing he broke down the classical barriers so long confining music and opened up new horizons for style and structure. Meanwhile, in or about 1801 or 1802, he realized he was growing deaf, a discovery that swept him into despondency and despair, both of which find expression in a unique and remarkable document known as the Heiligenstadt Testament. Deafness led to personal idiosyncrasies and volatile moods which often tried the patience of even his closest friends, but it did not decrease the quantity of his musical production nor prevent him from achieving heights of creative expression achieved by few, if any. He died in Vienna on March 26, 1827 after having ushered in a new age for music with his symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, and masterworks in other categories including opera and choral music. The grandeur of expression, the profundity of thought, and the independence of idiom we associate with Beethoven is not to be found in his lighter music which, generally speaking, is in a traditional mold, pleasing style, and in an inviting lyric vein. This is not the Beethoven who was the proud democrat, whose life was a struggle with destiny, and who sought to make music the expression of his profoundest concepts. This is rather, another Beethoven: the one who liked to dance, though he did it badly; who flirted with the girls; and who indulged in what he himself described as “unbuttoned humor.” Beethoven wrote twelve _Contredanses_ (_Contretaenze_) in 1801-1802. These are not “country dances” as the term “_contretaenze_” is sometimes erroneously translated. The Contredanse is the predecessor of the waltz. Like the waltz it is in three-part form, the third part repeating the first, while the middle section is usually a trio in contrasting mood. In 1801-1802, when Beethoven wrote his _Contredanses_, he was already beginning to probe deeply into poetic thought and emotion in his symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. But in the _Contredanses_ the poet becomes peasant. This is earthy music, overflowing with melodies of folksong vigor, and vitalized by infectious peasant rhythms. The _Contredanse_ No. 7 in E-flat major is particularly famous; this same melody was used by the composer for his music to the ballet _Prometheus_, for the finale of his _Eroica Symphony_, and for his Piano Variations, op. 35. The key signatures of the twelve _Contredanses_ are: C major, A major, D major, B-flat major, E-flat major, C major, E-flat major, C major, A major, C major, G major and E-flat major. A half dozen years before he wrote his _Contredanses_ Beethoven had completed a set of twelve _German Dances_ (_Deutsche Taenze_). The form, style, and spirit of the _German Dance_ is so similar to the _Contredanse_ that many Austrian composers used the terms interchangeably. Beethoven’s early _German Dances_, like the later _Contredanses_, are a reservoir of lively and tuneful semi-classical music with an engaging earthy quality to the melodies and a lusty vitality to the rhythms. Few Beethoven compositions have enjoyed such universal approval with budding pianists, salon orchestras, and various popular ensembles as the _Minuet in G_. It is not too far afield to maintain that this is one of the most famous minuets in all musical literature. Beethoven wrote it originally for the piano; it is the second of a set of six minuets, written in 1795, but published as op. 167. It is even more celebrated in its many different transcriptions than it is in the original. The composition is in three-part form. The first and third parts consist of a stately classical melody; midway comes a fast-moving trio of contrasting spirit. The first movement of the _Moonlight Sonata_ is also often heard in varied transcriptions for salon or “pop” orchestras. The _Moonlight Sonata_ is the popular name of the piano sonata in C-sharp minor, op. 27, no. 2 which Beethoven wrote in 1801 and which he designated as _Sonata quasi una fantasia_ mainly because of the fantasia character of this first movement. The poetic and sensitive mood maintained throughout the first movement—with a romantic melody of ineffable sadness accompanied by slow triplets—is the reason why the critic Rellstab (and _not_ the composer) provided the entire sonata with the name of “Moonlight.” To Rellstab this first movement evoked for him a picture of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland at night time, gently touched by the moonlight. The fact that Beethoven dedicated the sonata to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, with whom he was then in love, leads to a legend that he wrote this music to express frustrated love, but this was not the case. Another myth about this first movement is that Beethoven improvised this music while playing for a blind boy, as moonlight streamed into the window of his room; after he had finished playing he identified himself to the awe-stricken youngster. It was the opinion of the eminent critic, Henry E. Krehbiel, that the sonata was inspired by a poem, _Die Beterin_ by Seume, describing a young girl kneeling at an altar begging for her father’s recovery from a serious illness; angels descend to comfort her and she becomes transfigured by a divine light. Beethoven wrote two _Romances_ for violin and orchestra: in F major, op. 50 (1802) and G major, op. 40 (1803). Rarely do we encounter in Beethoven’s works such a fresh, spontaneous and entirely unsophisticated outpouring of song—a song that wears its beauty on the surface—as in these two compositions. The two _Romances_ are companion pieces and pursue a similar pattern. Each opens with the solo violin presenting the main melody (in the F major accompanied by the orchestra, in the G major, solo). Each then progresses to a pure outpouring of lyricism followed by virtuoso passages for the solo instrument. In each, violin and orchestra appear to be engaging in a gentle dialogue. The _Turkish March_ (_Marcia alla turca_) is one of several numbers (the fourth) comprising the incidental music to a play by Kotzebue, _The Ruins of Athens_ (_Die Ruinen von Athen_), op. 113 (1811). The production of this play with Beethoven’s music was intended for the opening of a theater in Pesth on February 9, 1812. The _Turkish March_ is in the pseudo-Turkish melodic style popular in Vienna in the early 19th century, and it employs percussion instruments such as the triangle which the Viennese then associated with Turkish music. The march, with its quixotic little melody, begins softly, almost like march music heard from a distance. It grows in sonority until a stirring climax is achieved. Then it dies out gradually and ebbs away in the distance. Leopold Auer made a famous transcription for violin and piano, while Beethoven himself transcribed it for piano, with six variations, op. 76 (1809). Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily, on November 3, 1801. Born to a musical family, he received music instruction in childhood, and while still very young started composing. He then attended the San Sebastiano Conservatory in Naples; during his stay there he completed a symphony, two masses, and a cantata among other works. He made his bow as opera composer with _Adelson e Salvini_, introduced at the Conservatory in 1825. He continued writing operas after that, and having them produced in major Italian opera houses with varying degrees of success. _I Capuleti e i Montecchi_, given in Venice in 1830, was a triumph. Then came the two operas by which Bellini is today most often represented in the repertory: _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_, both produced in 1831. In 1833 he came to Paris where he completed his last opera, _I Puritani_, given in Paris in 1835. He was at the height of his fame and creative powers when he died in Puteaux, near Paris, on September 23, 1835, at the age of thirty-four, a victim of intestinal fever. Bellini was the genius of opera song. His fresh, pure lyricism—perfect in design and elegant in style—elevates his greatest operas to a place of significance. His masterwork is _Norma_, introduced at La Scala in Milan on December 26, 1831, where it was at first a failure. The libretto by Felice Romani was based on a tragedy by L. A. Soumet. In Gaul, during the Roman occupation, in or about 50 B.C., Norma, high priestess of the Druids, violates her vows by secretly marrying the Roman proconsul, Pollione, and bearing him two sons. Pollione then falls in love with Adalgisa, virgin of the Temple of Esus. Unaware that Pollione is married, Adalgisa confides to Norma she is in love with him. With Pollione’s infidelity now apparent, he is brought before Norma for judgment. She offers him the choice of death or the renunciation of Adalgisa. When Pollione accepts death, Norma confesses to her people that, having desecrated her vows, she, too, must die. Moved by this confession, Pollione volunteers to die at her side in the funeral pyre. The overture is famous. Loud dramatic chords in full orchestra are succeeded by a soft _lento_ passage. A strong melody is then presented by flutes and violins against an incisive rhythm. There follows a graceful, sprightly and strongly accented tune in the strings. Both melodies are then amplified, dramatized, and repeated; particular emphasis is placed on the delicate, accented tune. The overture then proceeds to an energetic conclusion. One vocal episode from _Norma_ is also extremely popular and is often heard in orchestral transcriptions. It is Norma’s aria, “_Casta diva_,” surely one of the noblest soprano arias in all Italian operatic literature. It comes in the first act and represents Norma’s prayer for peace, and her grief that the hatred of her people for the Roman invaders must also result in their hatred for her husband, Pollione, the Roman proconsul. Ralph Benatzky Ralph Benatzky was born in Moravské-Budejovice, Bohemia, on June 5,